OLYMPICS

OLYMPICS; In First Final, Phelps Breaks Another Record

By LYNN ZINSER

Published: July 8, 2004

Correction Appended

LONG BEACH, Calif., July 7—
The early laps of Michael Phelps's first final at the United States Olympic trials Wednesday night, the 400-meter individual medley, betrayed none of the effort he puts into them. He glided through the butterfly lengths and sailed through the backstroke. At the beginning of the breaststroke, the meet announcer stirred the crowd into a howl by announcing how far ahead of world-record pace Phelps was.

From then on, a new roar greeted Phelps every time his head popped out of the water.

''I heard it when I came off the wall for the breaststroke,'' he said. ''And I just went for it.''

Phelps smashed his own world record with a scintillating time of 4 minutes 8.41 seconds in his most dominant event. He has five events to go. When he finished the race, Phelps immediately spotted the clock and shook one fist in the air.

Beating the second-place finisher, Erik Vendt, by more than five seconds, Phelps shaved a hefty 0.68 of a second off the world record he set last summer. Normally, swimming records are lowered by hundredths of seconds, not chunks of seconds.

And Phelps made it look easy. Even on the final freestyle leg, with a record in sight, his stroke showed no signs of strain.

''I don't know if I was exactly coasting,'' Phelps said. ''I wanted to get to the wall as fast as I could. It might have looked effortless, but it didn't feel effortless.''

Phelps became the first member of the Olympic swimming team with his victory, one that kicked off the finals in this eight-day meet with gusto.

Klete Keller, the 2000 Olympic bronze medalist in the 400 freestyle, won that event here with an American record of 3:44.19. The record he broke was Phelps's. Keller was followed onto the Olympic team by 18-year-old Larsen Jensen, who finished second, more than two seconds behind.

''My goal wasn't really to break the record,'' said Keller, who is from Phoenix. ''I just wanted to win the race.''

Keller joked that breaking one of Phelps's records was never easy. ''He's a record machine,'' he said.

Katie Hoff, a 15-year-old who trains with Phelps at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, was the surprise winner in the women's 400 individual medley, beating the 2000 Olympian Kaitlin Sandeno of the University of Southern California, who came in second.

Hoff struggled through the morning's preliminary rounds, posting the sixth-fastest time among the competitors, with a 4:49.16. As a result, she swam the final in Lane 7. She had trouble even getting out of the pool, having to sit on a nearby staircase before she could leave the deck.

''I have a problem of going out way too fast and unfortunately that problem is very painful sometimes,'' she said.

Less than eight hours later, she swam 4:37.67, the fastest time in the world this year.

''I just tried to chill out in the first 200 so that I could basically have a strong last 200,'' she said.

But it was Phelps, the 19-year-old hoping to break Mark Spitz's record of seven Olympic gold medals, who provided the main attraction. The trials are being held at a temporary 10,000-seat stadium on Long Beach's waterfront. The stands were about three-quarters full for the first night of competition, but the 7,781 fans who came received a treat.

Phelps swam the first event of the evening, emerging onto the deck wearing headphones and his usual unaware-of-the-world game face. An Eminem song raging in his ears, he focused all his energy on the race ahead.

Phelps shook off suggestions that he should have been pacing himself because he has five more individual events to go.

''I wanted to go into the Olympics with the fastest time in the world,'' said Phelps, who has recorded the top three times in the 400 individual medley. ''In a race like that, it's kind of hard to hold anything back.''

The matter of winning was never in doubt. Vendt, a 23-year-old from North Easton, Mass., finished in 4:14.09 to earn his second Olympic berth. In 2000, he also finished second in the trials, then took second at the Games. Back then, he was always chasing Tom Dolan. Now it is Phelps.

''It's all about coming here and getting second,'' Vendt said. ''It's just as good as a win to me.''

The other news of the day was that the three-time Olympian Jenny Thompson struggled through the preliminary and semifinal rounds of the 100 butterfly, probably her best chance to win her first individual medal in an Olympics.

Thompson qualified for the final Thursday night but had the fifth-fastest time. For Thompson, the reigning world champion in the event, it was below her standards.

At this meet, though, the highest standards of all are set by Phelps.

Photos: Nineteen-year-old Michael Phelps broke his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley. (Photo by Associated Press)(pg. D1); Michael Phelps broke the record by 0.68. ''It might have looked effortless, but it didn't feel effortless,'' he said. (Photo by Getty Images)(pg. D7)

Correction: July 12, 2004, Monday A sports article on Thursday about the United States Olympic swimming trials, and the world record set there by Michael Phelps in the 400-meter individual medley, referred incorrectly to Olympic medals won in the past by Jenny Thompson. She has indeed won them in individual events -- one silver and one bronze; she is not seeking to win her first individual medal. She has also won eight gold medals in relays.